Quote:
Originally Posted by malek
i don't see how its better than simple elongated buses on Parc.
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there are a number of reasons why electric trolleybuses are superior to regular diesel buses:
clean energy. since they're electric, they don't cause any pollution.
low operating cost. one of the biggest reasons behind the latest STM fare hike is fuel costs. with electric trolleybuses, there are no fuel costs to worry about. you save millions of dollars a year on trolleybuses vs. diesel buses because of fuel alone.
low maintenance cost. electric trolleybuses break down less often and require less overall maintenance than diesel buses.
longer lifespan. trolleybuses outlast diesel buses by something like a decade. vancouver just retired its 1970s-era fleet of trolleybuses; by contrast, if you want to operate a diesel bus from the 1970s, you'll need to completely overhaul it and even then its performance will be mediocre.
quiet. if you ride a trolleybus, they're dead quiet inside. the electric motor emits only a quiet hum when the bus is moving and it shuts off completely when the brakes are on. outside the bus, there is only a faint humming sound when a bus drives by.
vancouver is in the process of renewing its entire trolleybus fleet. philadelphia recently made the decision to restore its trolleybus system after having suspended it for years. lyon, of course, has an extensive trolleybus system that has been constantly renewed and upgraded. apparently when the TTC scrapped the last of its trolleybus lines in the early 1990s, it severely regretted the decision after it saw how inefficient diesel buses were. trolleybuses have a higher initial cost than diesel buses, but they cost far less to operate in the long run. compared to diesel buses, they're a far superior investment. compared to trams, they're an acceptable alternative if they have their own right-of-way.
and don't be fooled by scenes of tangled overhead wires from vancouver or san francisco. the latest generation of trolleybuses have minimal overhead caternary, as you can see in the lyon photo. the benefits of trolleybuses outweigh the visual cost of having nearly invisible wires strung about the city.